Rwanda’s Paul Kagame is accustomed to accolades. On May 12,
he received yet another honorary degree, this time from WilliamPennUniversity in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Celebrating Kagame is in vogue because he is
credited with leading a remarkable recovery from war and genocide in the heart
of Africa.

There certainly have been achievements in Kagame’s Rwanda. Economic growth has been climbing (G.D.P. growth
for 2011 was more than 8 percent) and private investment is a featured
component of that growth (Costco and Starbucks now buy about a quarter of Rwanda’s premium coffee crop).

In fact, the World Bank ranks Rwanda as the eighth easiest place to start a new business.
The government is renowned for reducing corruption, expanding security,
addressing genocidal crimes and increasing women’s rights.

Yet while Kagame is no Idi Amin or Charles G. Taylor,
he does not merit his reputation as a visionary modernizer. The reason is
simple: his state is all about force.

There’s no question who’s in charge in Rwanda. The government’s commanding presence in Rwandan
lives is aggressively maintained by Kagame and a clique of other former Tutsi
refugees from Uganda. Indeed, according to the U.C.L.A. sociologist Andreas Wimmer, Rwanda has the third-highest level of political exclusion
in the world (behind Sudan and Syria).

Kagame’s government asserted its power in the run-up
to the 2010 presidential elections, when authorities barred most opposition
political parties from registering for elections, closed down many independent
newspapers, and witnessed the flight into exile of several prominent government
officials who said they “feared for their lives.”

There were also three suspicious pre-election
shootings. One of the exiled officials, Kagame’s former chief of staff, Faustin
Kayumba Nyamwasa, was shot in the stomach in South Africa after openly criticizing the Rwandan government. A
Rwandan journalist, Jean Léonard Rugambage, was killed shortly after his
article, which pointed to government complicity, was published. The deputy
leader of the Green Party, which was among those unable to register, was found
not only dead but with his head partly severed.

Kagame garnered 93 percent of the vote. Soon after
the election, an exhaustively researched United Nations “mapping exercise”
report led the veteran Rwanda expert Filip Reyntjens to state that “there is
overwhelming evidence of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against
humanity” against Kagame. A foreign expert (who asked not to be named) also
reported the disappearance of “a large number” of Rwandan civil society members
in 2007.

Nowhere is the heavy-handed and destructive nature of
Kagame’s government more apparent than in its approach to youth. In Rwanda, traditionally no young man can be recognized as an
adult until he first builds a house and then marries. But my research detailed
how government regulations make it virtually impossible for young Rwandans to
complete their houses.

It is not just that forcing farmers into state
villages has consistently failed across the region (notably Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique). A government official also explained that,
although most young men are able to construct a dwelling consisting of “one simple
room,” the government’s minimum required dimension is six times that size. The
result is a treadmill toward public humiliation.

The specter of masses of failed men is no small
concern: with a median age of 19, Rwanda has one of the youngest populations in the world.

The alarming situation that Kagame’s government has
created boils down to this: While government officials are expected to
implement policies that cannot be enacted and dissent is out of the question,
people are being forced to follow a blizzard of regulations. Lacking options,
desperate Rwandans become lawbreakers, building illegal houses that the
authorities tear down and enduring fines and harassment by selling wares in the
streets.

The government’s response is to pressure people even
more. As Kagame explained to the journalist Stephen Kinzer, “We have to work on
the minds of our people. We have to take them to a level where people respect
work and work hard, which has not been the case in the past. You have to push
and push.”

My research found the reverse: most Rwandans are
stuck in difficult and frequently humiliating circumstances, which government
regulations have largely created. Mid-level Rwandan officials confirmed every
major finding.

Envisioning a radiant Rwanda is only possible if one shares the blinders that its
government so confidently wears. The government of Paul Kagame boasts many
excellent ideas. But underneath the splendid success are disturbing realities
that are systematically contained. At least for now, Rwanda’s progress is dangerously uneven and so reliant on
extreme levels of social and political control that its future is foreboding.

Despite its promise, Rwanda is a country in lockdown. Loosening the autocrat’s
reins and helping his nation avoid another violent explosion is a message that
only Rwanda’s international supporters can deliver to President
Kagame. Foreign governments and individuals alike must push for easing or
removing restrictions on the press, politics, civil society, housing, street
vending and much more. Advocating against state coercion is far too dangerous
for Rwandans themselves to undertake.

Marc Sommers is a fellow at the WoodrowWilsonInternationalCenter for Scholars and the author of “Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle
for Adulthood.”

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on May 28, 2012,
in The International Herald Tribune

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

About Me

I am an African American who grew up in Central and Western Africa.
I am strongly committed to human rights across the African Great Lakes region and beyond.
I strongly believe that spreading the untold truth about the ongoing crisis in the African Great Lakes region, no matter how unpleasant it might sound to many people, will surely lead my people to a better future in a timely manner.
I am a rare voice of the voiceless people currently living in Rwanda and in DRC.
My crucial duties consist in raising awareness about current political deadlock in Rwanda and its tragic consequences to the Rwandan people and the Congolese people as well.
Please keep in mind that this is NOT a hate blog. I will not tolerate hate speech or ignorant comments of any kind. All comments are moderated prior to publication.
At Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice (HTPJ) Blog, there is no room for ignorance or hatred.